A parking lock mechanism of an automatic transmission has conventionally been known.
For example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-106453 discloses a parking lock mechanism of an automatic transmission pivotably supporting a parking pawl using a parking pawl shaft.
The parking lock mechanism as described above is provided in a casing such as a transmission case.
In the parking lock mechanism as described above, the parking pawl is engaged with a parking gear connected to an output shaft of the automatic transmission, so as to achieve a parking lock state. In order to move the parking pawl toward the parking gear, a sliding portion guiding the parking pawl is provided.
If the sliding portion is small, however, accuracy in holding the parking pawl is lowered and malfunction of the parking lock mechanism may occur.
If the sliding portion is implemented solely by the casing of the parking lock mechanism, a size of a portion guiding the parking pawl should be large to some extent, from a viewpoint of prevention of malfunction of the parking lock mechanism. In such a case, an area to be worked in the casing is increased, which results in an increased working time and shorter life of a tool. If the sliding portion is implemented solely by the casing in this manner, it is difficult to achieve both accuracy in holding the parking pawl and productivity of the parking lock mechanism.